But It's Better If You Do
by dinolove453
Summary: One year after We’re Back Nathan is being bullied by the football players, and it turns deadly. How does he survive? How does Daley?
1. Fatal Note From Teacher: Prologue

But It's Better If You Do

Summary: (One year after We're Back) Nathan is being bullied by the football players, and it turns deadly. How does he survive? How does Daley?

Ch. 1 Prologue

AN: And yes, this is a three- part series, each story about 10 chapters in length and about a hardship that happens to one of the couples. All three hardships are… well… tragic, I guess. Yay! This one is, obviously, Nathan and Daley. Next one is Melissa and Jackson, and then finally the last one is Eric and Taylor. Enjoy!

Bruce Willhop, 18, stared at the clock as it slowly went by. He was in detention with some of his other football budgie, Sergei, Joey, Bill, Sam, Rich, and Jason. Half of them- Bruce, Reggie, Sam, and Joey were large and hefty. To mess with them would be like committing suicide. Sergei, Bill, Rich, and Jason were small but fast, and deadly as well. They, although not having a lot of power, knew exactly where to strike.

Which was pretty much all they knew- all 8 of the boys were dumb and more brain dead than the football players at your average school. (AN: My school being the one we're comparing it too. Which, as Kat knows, means something!)

But there was something else about this group of jocks.

They used to be friends and teammates with Nathan McHugh.

And they kicked him off the team.

And they have a death wish for them…

Which, needless to say, is never a very good thing.

Drool began to leak out of the side of Bruce's mouth as the clock slowly moved. The teacher supervisor looked up.

"Bruce? Could you come here for a moment?" Miss Johnson asked.

Bruce tumbled out of his chair and walked up to the front.

"You know Nathan McHugh, yes?" she asked.

Bruce's face darkened, but he nodded.

"Could you give him this?" Miss Johnson held out a note.

Bruce nodded, but the small gears in his head immediately began to grind (a rare sight).

He sat back at his seat, and stuck the not in his binder, waiting for the bell to ring.

When it did, he waited till all the dumb jocks got outside before calling "huddle up!"

They all crowded around him and read the note.

_Dear Nathan McHugh, May 1st, 2007 _

_Congratulations! You are in the top 1 percent of you graduation class! You and four others have a chance to be Salutatorian or even Valedictorian if you try hard! Study, study, study- the decision is made after finals finish on May 18th. We'll notify you then. _

_Sincerely, _

_Miss Johnson. _

"So," Sergei murmured when he finished, "pretty boy's smart too."

"Well, we now have a… watchamacallit… a bargaining chip, boys," Bruce grinned evilly, "And I know just how to use it…"

"How, Bruce, how?" Reggie asked eagerly.

"We'll corner McHugh. Tell him he gets the note if he breaks up with Marin…"

Reggie clenched his hands; he had been Daley's first boyfriend.

"And stop hanging out with those losers. Except Wu- Wu doesn't count, they were friends for, well, pretty much forever. And to stop making us look like idiots in class or losers in gym…"

"Yeah!" Rich grinned, "and when he refuses we'll _pound_ him!"

Everyone laughed evilly.

"Brilliant plan, Bruce," Jason nodded.

"I know, I know," Bruce smiled triumphantly and grinning in an evil, but dumb, kind of way.

It was 7:00 AM, before school on May 2nd, that was zero hour.

(491 Words- prologue, people) Dun dun dun… and yes, the jocks at my school are as dumb as that. What fun.


	2. Forth Time is the Worst

Ch. 1 Forth Time's the worst

AUTHOR'S WARNING: There is MAJOR violence that involves a beloved character in this chapter. Read at your own risk. Violence is in bold.

Nathan whistled to himself as he opened his locker. He had come early before school to talk to one of his teachers, and was excited for the evening. He had a date with Daley.

In his locker he had three pictures on the inside door- one of the entire Flight 29 Down gang (with him included) goofing off together; one of him and Melissa in Junior High, and a recent one of him and Daley (going to the winter formal last Christmas). He couldn't wait to replace that picture with one from Senior Prom in four weeks.

Nathan dug into the back of his locker and pulled out another photograph. This one was super old, dirty, and dusty. He wiped it off with his sleeve.

It was when he was eight, and it was a group photo of him, Melissa, Daley, and their old friend Liam- he had died of Leukemia in the 6th grade. Nathan smiled sadly at the picture, and hung it up in his locker. He, Melissa, and Daley had annulled their old pact a year and a half ago- and it had been a huge relief to be able to talk about Liam again.

Nathan found his books, and gently shut his locker as footsteps came up behind him. He whirled around and faced who used to be his teammates- used to being the key word here- Bruce, Reggie, Sergei, Joey, Bill, Rich, Sam, and Jason.

"Hey guys," Nathan shrugged, "what's up?"

"This is what's up," Bruce grunted and all 8 football players formed a tight circle around him. Bruce held out a note.

"This is from Miss Johnson," the note looked real to Nathan, so for once he didn't doubt Bruce's word.

"We'll give it to you on two conditions," Jason nodded.

"One: you ditch Marin. Two: You ditch your friends," Bill grunted.

"No way! Are you kidding? I'll just go talk to Miss Johnson," Nathan tried to push past him, but the bullies held him back.

"_Take- the- note!_" Bruce yelled through gritted teeth.

"No," Nathan said simply, and Bruce **punched him in the gut. **

**Nathan let out a gasp of pain, and Jason kicked him in the crotch. He stumbled to the ground, helpless now, as Reggie tromped on his arm. Blood splattered everywhere. Nathan gritted his teeth in pain for a moment, but let out a gasp as Sam kicked and stepped on his legs. Joey then brought him to his feet just to have Sergei ram into him, crushing his chest and then Rich kicked his crotch again. Bruce punched him in the mouth and Reggie punched his eye. Nathan grabbed onto one of them, but then Joey let go of him and Nathan crumpled to the ground. By then he had lost all feeling in his legs. He made a weak effort to stop them by weakly pulling Bruce's feet out from under him, but that did nothing to stop the bullies- they worked like a flawless team, smoothly kicking him everywhere and anywhere. Nathan soon couldn't feel his body, the only thing he could feel was… nothing. He was completely nub. He felt another sharp blow to his head, and he was in so much pain that it was beyond screaming. He was beginning to black out. **

**_Oh god, they're going to murder me…_ Nathan thought helplessly. **

"**Stop," he murmured to the best of his ability. **

"**Oh, does wittle Nathan want us to stop?" Jason cackled. **

"**Continue boys. Don't stop," Bruce laughed evilly. **

**Nathan let out a small groan as they continued. He couldn't see anymore, someone had kicked both his eyes shut. **

"**WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? NATHAN!" screamed a familiar voice. **

**_Daley_, Nathan thought, and that was when he completely blacked out. **

F29DWN

Daley was walking through the school hallway, happy because she was in the top 1 of her class. She was going to the library to study, as always.

She was going past the hallway where Nathan's locker was, and heard some idiotic laughs and a soft voice murmuring in pain, _stop_. Daley doubled back, and screamed.

Eight football jocks were repeatedly kicking and stepping on, so basically _murdering_ Nathan. He was groaning on the floor.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? NATHAN!" Daley screamed and ran over as Nathan went limp.

"Oh look, Nathan's being rescued!" Bruce laughed dumbly.

Daley was about to crumple to the floor, but first whirled around and punched Bruce in the mouth. He let out a small squeak and fell to the floor. Daley when and punched another one of the bullies in the gut and kicked the other coming at her in the crotch, showing she meant business.

The rest of the jocks helped up the injured ones and ran away, so then Daley crumpled to the floor.

"Oh Nathan!" she whispered softly, bringing his limp form into her lap. He was unconscious, but breathing. His breathing was quiet, but forced, labored, and irregular. Daley lifted his form in her arms and cried. She knew she had to save him, but right now she couldn't think. Her mind was filled with one simple thought: _No, not Nathan! No!_ which repeated itself over and over.

Soon, more footsteps came down the hallway. Daley heard a gasp and heavy books fall to the floor. The person rushed over to her.

"Honey? Daley, its Mrs. Ralson," Daley didn't make sense of anything except it was the librarian.

"Daley, what happened?" she asked again.

"Bullies," Daley began to stammered, "the jocks injured Nathan."

"Is he alive?" Mrs. Ralson asked softly.

"I… I don't know," Daley whispered, so Mrs. Ralson checked his pulse.

"He is," and Daley heard Mrs. Ralson pull out her phone. Daley felt a rush of relief wash over her, but it wasn't big. When Mrs. Ralson assured her that the paramedics were on their way, she left so she could meet them in front of the school. Daley could finally see through her tears, and saw a piece of white paper on the ground. She was shaking as she picked it up and read it.

_Nathan's in the top 1 too… Oh Nathan!_ She thought, and folded up the note and stuck it in her jean pocket.

It wasn't long before Mrs. Ralson came rushing back with the paramedics. Daley reluctantly let go of Nathan so they could roll him on a stretcher.

"C-Can I go?" Daley asked softly.

Mrs. Ralson nodded, "I'll explain to the office."

Daley nervously got in the van with Nathan, and didn't let go of his hand all the way there.

Back in the hallway, his books lay forgotten.

(1, 105 Words) I figured you'd want to see the bullies hurt, lol. Does Nathan survive? You'll see… Review please!


	3. Critical Condition

Ch. 3 Critical Condition

Nathan's parents and Daley's dad came rushing in then. Daley was sitting and shaking on a waiting room chair.

"Daley!" Daley's dad ran to her, while Nathan's parents continued on to the front desk.

"Did they hurt you too, Daley?" her dad asked.

"Not physically, no," Daley whispered, and began bawling into her father's chest.

Nathan's parents came walking over and they all hugged and cried. Finally, after what seemed like days, a doctor came out.

Nathan's parents and Daley rushed up to him, bombarding him with questions. He soon raised a hand to quiet them.

"Nathan's returned to consciousness. But that's about the only good news I can give you- that and his heart, lungs, liver, and stomach are fine."

Daley and Nathan's mom cried in relief.

"Let's start at the top. He has a concussion- not a mild one but not a life threatening one either. Two black eyes. Broken nose- can't even breath out of it, the nose has collapsed. Lips bleeding from the inside, many teeth broken. Esophagus moved slightly. Bruises line his body. Most of his ribs are broken, and one of them even began to poke his lungs- that's why his breathing was labored. We managed to remove the rib without damaging the lung. His entire left arm is broken, and his right is mildly fractured. One of his kidneys must be removed. One of testicles as well," Daley, who had gone white, now blushed furiously, "part of his spine is dislocated, and his left leg is fractured in several places. Some of his toes on the left foot need to be amputated," the doctor sighed.

"So," Nathan's father whispered "How many operations is that?"

"I want to take out the kidney and testicle immediately. The kidney is beginning to leak, and the testicle will just get in the way during the leg operations. It's practically off, anyway. Then I'd like to fix his esophagus and spine. Then I have to stop the bleeding in his lip- he could loose a lot of blood that way. Then I want to amputate his toes, and mend his leg. Then I wish to heal the concussion and fix his arms. Finally, I'll have our plastic surgeons fix his eyes, nose, teeth, and fine tune his lips. That's 6 operations, and to time it properly, I'd say it would take about one week. Then we have to hold him here while he heals- not leaving his bed- for two more weeks. Then for two more weeks he can leave the hospital, walk around- but only for a few hours at a time, then come back here. Then for a few months he can stay at home while his legs heal properly. But it will be a while- from a little over half a year to two years- before he's completely back to normal. I highly suggest you sue the people who did this," the doctor said, trying to add some humor to the situation. As expected, that didn't work so well.

"Oh, we will," Nathan's mother spat.

Daley held her face in her hands and cried. Her father walked up and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Could… c-could I g-go in to see him now?" Daley asked softly.

"I don't know if you're ready- he's quite battered up. But if you must," the doctor led the way.

Daley went in the room by herself nervously- Nathan's mom and dad weren't sure if they were quite ready yet.

Daley gasped when she saw him. Both his eyes were blackened, and much of his forehead was bruised. His scar from so long ago on the island was reopened and re-stitched. His nose had tubes running in it, his lips were swollen. His entire body looked distorted.

"Oh Nathan!" Daley stumbled to kneel beside the bed. She held her face in her hands and wept. Suddenly, she felt a weak hand on her shoulder. She looked up abruptly, and saw Nathan weakly grasping her.

"Daley, don't cry," his voice was quiet and hoarse.

Daley bit her lip to fight back tears. Nathan weakly laid his hand gently on her cheek.

"Please, Daley, I'm going to be fine," Nathan laughed but then started coughing.

Daley held his respirator out for him, and he sucked in a breath. Daley soothed back his hair.

"Maybe… maybe none of this would have happened if we hadn't left the island. Maybe we should have stayed. Told our parents we were fine, asked them to visit, et cetera. I mean, so much bad has happened since we got home. And this takes the cake," Daley murmured.

"I hate to admit it, but I feel the same. The last time I felt completely happy was the week before we went back to school. Oh sure, I've been very happy at times, but never purely happy."

"Who knew we'd _miss_ the island?" Daley laughed.

"Not me," Nathan chuckled, and placed a gently hand on her shoulders.

"Pleas try to visit me every day," he begged.

"Why would I do otherwise?" Daley seemed shocked.

Nathan gently and briefly kissed her, before Daley got up.

"You parents should probably see you now," she whispered sadly.

"Okay. I love you," he murmured.

"I love you too," Daley once more bit back tears and left reluctantly.

F29DWN

The others came as soon as their classes were done. When Melissa had heard, she fainted and Jackson caught her. Taylor stared around dumbly at everyone.

"But he's going to be okay, right?"

No one could answer, because no one had any idea what to say to that. Because they didn't know themselves.

Eric shook his head sadly, "No one has any possible idea."

Abby and Lex nodded. Nathan's family- his parents, Kate, and baby Tanya (only one month old) were inside talking to him. Daley was weeping in a chair. Lex was comforting her immediately.

Everyone was staring sadly and darkly at the ground, silence prevailing except for Daley's loud and frequent sobs.

Finally Nathan's family walked out. Nathan's mom was clutching Tanya, Kate was holding her father's hand tightly, her face pale. She was shaking furiously.

The whole group began to rush in to visit Nathan then, the doctor murmuring they had ten minuets.

Everyone began bombarding him with question, but Daley just knelt beside him and smoothed his sweaty hair.

"What happened?" Jackson asked.

"Who did this?" Melissa cried.

"Why did they do this?" Abby frowned.

"Let him breath!" Daley snapped.

Everyone shut up then.

"I was pounded by the dumb football jocks. They were going to give me a note about something…"

"Oh yeah," Daley choked, "Nathan, you're in the top one percent."

"Really? Awesome," Nathan smiled, "anyway, they would give me the note if I dumped Daley and ditched you guys. Of course I refused, so they clobbered me. It was going on for a while when Daley found me, and I blacked out," Nathan shivered.

"Oh Nathan!" Daley cried, flinging her arms around him.

"You're first operation is in a few minuets," Jackson said softly, "we should go."

They all left reluctantly, but Daley stayed an extra minuet, not wanting to let go.

(1, 194 Words) Please review!


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